Category Archives for "Rapporteur"

Rebbeca Pskowski

WMU-Koji Sekimizu PhD Fellow in Maritime Governance

Rebecca P. Pskowski is a WMU-Koji Sekimizu Fellow in Maritime Governance, pursuing her PhD at WMU with the support of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. She is also civilian attorney-advisor to the United States Coast Guard (on leave).

Rebecca received her B.A. from the University of Chicago, her J.D. from Harvard Law School, and her LL.M. in Admiralty from Tulane University Law School. She clerked for the Honorable Charles S. Haight, Jr. of the Southern District of New York and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Prior to her legal career, Rebecca sailed as a merchant mariner for nine years. Her work on passenger sailing vessels took her to five continents and included service as cook, AB, bosun, deck officer, and relief captain. She is licensed as a mate of vessels less than 3000 gross tons on oceans, and a master of vessels less than 500 gross tons on coastal waters.

Rebecca is writing her dissertation on the ongoing development of institutional compliance mechanisms for IMO treaties. Specifically, she is researching the development of the STCW 95 list of confirmed parties, the London Protocol Compliance Group, the IMO Member State Audit Scheme, and the IMO data collection system for fuel consumption of ships.

Rebecca has published widely on maritime legal topics, including articles on ship recycling, bunker contamination claims, and maritime labor protections.

Peter Ohagwa

Maritime Affairs MSc Student, World Maritime University

Peter Udochukwu Ohagwa is an Assistant Chief Maritime Safety Officer (ACMSO) with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). He hails from Nkwerre, Imo State, Nigeria. Peter has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Chemistry from the Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria; Diploma in Marine Surveying from the Lloyds Maritime Academy, UK; Master’s degree in Maritime Transport Management (MTM) from the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho, Nigeria; and recently completed another Master’s degree in Maritime Affairs with specialization in Maritime Safety and Environmental Administration (MSEA) from the World Maritime University (WMU), Malmo, Sweden. 

He is a highly motivated individual who aspires to constant improvement on his academic and professional skills. His main areas of interest include; maritime safety, security and environment, hence seeks a broader knowledge and experiences in order to efficiently assume higher career responsibilities in the future, as well as be better equipped to contribute towards policies that address world’s challenges, particularly, in the field of maritime. 

Peter is an awardee of the prestigious Nippon/Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) scholarship to the World Maritime University, and has successfully completed a dissertation on the topic, “Analysis of Nigeria’s Deep Blue Project: A New Paradigm for Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea”. He has competency in maritime distress management, search and rescue operations, safety/security advisory and law enforcement.

Ellen Johanessen

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant
WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Ellen Johannesen is a PhD Candidate at the World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden.. Ellen is a Canadian who has spent the past 15 years in Copenhagen, and since 2009 has been working in marine science administration as the Coordinating Officer at the Secretariat of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).
With an interdisciplinary background, her professional interests include international marine science cooperation and administration, the ecosystem approach, and more recently considering the role of gender in the practice of international marine science.

Through ICES, she has contributed to a variety of international marine science projects, including as work package leader for the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Coordination and Support Action on the Ecosystem Approach to Ocean Health and Stressors; and contributing to the UNDP-GEF Large Marine Ecosystems (LME):LEARN Governance Mechanisms Working Group.

Ellen’s research perspective recognizes that change is needed at all levels, personal, political, and institutional to make the changes necessary for greater social justice and equality between genders, but also for the ocean. Without respect, understanding, and representation of diverse perspectives in science decision-making we will continue to struggle to change the current course of increasing degradation of the ocean, climate, and biodiversity.

José Manuel Pacheco Castillo

Nippon Foundation Fellow
Wotld Maritime University

LL.M. in International Maritime Law from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) in Malta (2019-2022). LL. B from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (2014). Mr. Pacheco has worked for the Peruvian Government as a legal adviser in maritime affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013-2019) and the Ministry of Transport and Communications (2020-2022). He has received training in international courses on the law of the sea such as the Yeosu Academy on the Law of the Sea (Republic of Korea) (2017) and as a fellow in the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (Germany) (2018). Currently, Mr. Pacheco is taking a research stay at the World Maritime University as part of the Nippon Foundation fellowship program from the United Nations Division for Oceans Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS).

Lamin Jawara

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at the World Maritime University – Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Lamin Jawara is a PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at the World Maritime University – Sasakawa Global Institute at Malmo, Sweden, where he is currently working on his thesis entitled “Addressing Climate Change Emergency Governance in Global Shipping”. He is resident in The Gambia and works as the General Manager of the Gambia Ferry Services, a subsidiary company of the Gambia Ports Authority.

Prior to his appointment as General Manager in 2020, Lamin had started his career at The Gambia Ports Authority as a Cadet Marine Engineer in 1997 and rose through the ranks to Director of Technical Services, Ferries Division. He had worked briefly at the New York City Ferry Services (NYC Ferry) as Engineering Projects Manager and as Fleet Maintenance Supervisor from 2017 to 2020. At NYC Ferry, he had managed remediation projects of several ferries in collaboration with New York City Economic Development Cooperation (NYCEDE).

Lamin holds a MSc degree in Marine Technology with specialization in Technical Operation of Marine Systems from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) where he had worked with Statoil on the development, testing and characterization of renewable fuels as part of his Master’s thesis from 2010 to 2011. While studying, he worked as a Teaching Assistant at NTNU. He acquired his BSc in Marine Engineering from the Regional Maritime University in Ghana in 2005 with an award for Best Engineering Graduate. Prior to this degree, he had received a Diploma in Marine Engineering from the same University in 2001.

Lamin is a Chartered Engineer (UK) and a Chartered Marine Engineer certified by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST). As a member of IMarEST he currently serves in various IMarEST Special Interest Groups including the Coastal Science & Engineering.

Aspasia Pastra

Postdoctoral Fellow, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Dr. Aspasia Pastra has been appointed as a Post-Doc Fellow and Maritime Policy Analyst at the World Maritime University in Malmö, Sweden. To date, she has been involved in a number of State-of-the-Art Regulatory Projects in maritime policy, ocean technology, environmental protection, and port governance, including those that have been funded by the government of Canada. Dr. Pastra has published extensively in the field of maritime policy and governance, maritime robotics & techno-regulatory advancements and global environmental change. 

Dr Pastra holds a B.Sc. degree in Public Administration from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Greece and an MBA from Cardiff University in the UK. She was granted a scholarship in memory of the ship-owner George P. Livanos for the World Maritime University in Sweden and received an MSc in Maritime Administration. She was awarded her PhD in the area of corporate governance from Brunel University in London. She has extensive experience in shipping as she worked for many years in large shipping companies. She has also participated in the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), as a member of the Greek Delegation.

Tricia Lovell

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute, WMU

Tricia Lovell has over two decades of experience in fisheries management, environmental conservation and broader ocean governance. She holds a Masters of Marine Management from Dalhousie University and is a United Nations Nippon Foundation Fellow. Tricia has served as Antigua and Barbuad’s National Focal to the Ramsar Convention as well as the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Focal Point to the Convention on Biological Diversity. She has also served as the Deputy Chair to Antigua and Barbuda’s National Ocean Governance Committee.

Sarah Mahadeo

Research Fellow, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

Sarah Mahadeo a Research Fellow in the Closing the Circle Programme which looks at exploring challenges and advancing potential solutions to marine debris, Sargassum and marine spatial planning (MSP) in the Eastern Caribbean. Sarah has more than 7 years’ experience working both in terrestrial and marine planning. Prior to joining WMU, she worked with the MSP global initiative of the IOC-UNESCO for capacity development activities on MSP and the Blue Economy in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as on a series of policy briefs related to MSP on a range of topics including Climate Change, Ocean Governance and Capacity Development. Her work in MSP also includes an internship at Nordregio in Stockholm Sweden in 2018, where she was involved in the Pan Baltic Scope project. Sarah was previously employed as a Town Planner in the Ministry of Planning and Development in Trinidad and Tobago from 2011 until 2020 (with a hiatus for study from 2016-2018). Her work in land use planning involved assessment of applications for building and the development of land and contributing to policy reviews and other planning guidance. She was also a member of the working committee which produced the national standards for accessible buildings and facilities. Sarah’s educational background includes the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Maritime Spatial Planning, jointly conferred by the University of Seville, Spain; University of Azores, Portugal and University IUAV of Venice, Italy. She also holds a BSc in Urban and Regional Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland and a BSc in Biology from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests include stakeholder engagement in planning, land-sea interactions, marine and terrestrial planning integration and developing MSP in small island states.

Luciana F. Coelho

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant, WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute

PhD Candidate and Research Assistant at the World Maritime University, Member of the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative, MSc in Environment, Politics & Society UCL, Masters of Law, University of Brasilia. Before joining WMU, Luciana worked in non-governmental organisations providing legal support to improve the scientific in-take in legal and policy instruments. Her research looks into the implementation of UNCLOS’s provisions on marine scientific research by Small Island Developing States.